Cultural appropriation has been the hot button issue of the year in 2015 and it looks like the topic will be an issue to deal with for years to come.
For those who don’t know cultural appropriation basically takes place when a dominant culture takes characteristics from a minority group and passes it off as their own.
We recently reported on model, Chantelle Winnie, and her views on cultural appropriation after people began criticizing white models who have been caught trying to copy Winnie’s Vitiligo disorder for the sake of “high fashion”:
Even though her view may be her trying to be politically correct some people just plain think that she completely missed the point of what cultural appropriation is and why it pisses people off so much.
Well listed below are some reasons that might help:
1. It Allows A Love For Culture But Not For Its People
Recently Christian Louboutin revealed their new “Nefertiti” inspired lipstick collection. On Instagram, Louboutin posted a picture of the legendary Nefertiti and captioned it “The Beautiful one has arrived, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt is the most timeless symbol of beauty and power to Christian Louboutin, who is your beauty icon?”
Here’s what Twitter had to say about Christian Louboutin’s depiction of Neferiti:
In other words, Christian Louboutin made it okay to appreciate the beauty behind the Egyptian culture but they fell short in showing appreciation to its Egyptian people as she is portrayed as almost white in their campaign. No, it is not okay!
2. It Makes Certain Things Cool For White People But Too Ethnic For People Of Color
Don’t mean to throw some our girls under the bus but one thing that stands out for this topic is hair. It looks like cornrows has been the latest hair fad amongst white stars like
Unfortunately for us, we know dam well what is considered high fashion for them is considered “hood fresh” for us! Next!
3. It Allows People To Be Rewarded For Things That The Creator Has Yet To Even Receive Credit For:
People are angry with Louis Vuitton for using “Ghana Must Go” bags have been used for years for people who were forced to leave their homes only with the items that they could fit in them and yet Louis Vuitton felt it was okay to slap their names on it and call it high fashion all of a sudden without even crediting the origin of the bag!! Come on now!!
Oh and let’s not forget when Elle Canada really put their foot in their mouths when they decided to embark on this epic fail:
And Yall know Twitter was right there to let them know about themselves:
Can we just get a little shine if you’re going to use our stuff that’s all!
4. It Perpetuates Racist Stereotypes
Now let’s go back to our girl, Chantelle Winnie for a sec. In her response to people shaming the models for cultural appropriation she said,
“Every time someone wants fuller lips, or a bigger bum, or curly hair, or braids does Not mean our culture is being stolen.”
In this case a lot of people were commenting about how this statement described the likeness of who Kylie Jenner is now trying to be but the stereotypical side comes in because she underwent this transformation after she started dating a black man, Tyga. Some people questioned, ‘so is this how you end up after dating a black man?’ You have to have an ass, tits, and lips? ‘Once you go black you don’t go back’ because now you have to transform into a woman who has to gain attention through her physical aspects to keep your black man around? Are we really only getting credited for having big lips and fat asses because there are a lot of black women who don’t have either or!
Let’s chat below: Do you think the people against cultural appropriation are mad for the right reasons or should we be glad like Chantelle Winnie says?
TSR STAFF: Debra Oh! @The_Ebony_Issue on IG!
